Author Topic: Is this a sleep regression - do we just ride it out?  (Read 809 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Jules77

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 21
  • Location: Wheathampstead, Herts, UK
Is this a sleep regression - do we just ride it out?
« on: November 23, 2015, 14:16:04 pm »
Hi,

LO is now approaching 15 weeks. From 12 weeks to now things have seemed quite settled. We'd got into a 3 hour easy with regular naps and usually just one night waking and a dream feed.

However, over the last few nights his NW have increased. For the last 3 nights we haven't made it to the dream feed as he has woken at between 9 and 10. Then there have been two more wakes anywhere between 1 and 6.

LO can self settle to sleep and has been pretty good doing say during day and at bedtime. Some NW over the last few weeks have also been a case of him talking himself back to sleep. But, not these last few nights.

He is still swaddled, and we tried starting to wean off by leaving an arm out three nights ago but it went rather badly so we are going to leave it a week and try again. Not sure if swaddle could be contributing to our NW. Over the last three nights he's only got out once, and only one arm.

Has anyone else experienced a sleep regression around the 4 month mark? I've read quite a bit about it in other websites, but wanted to see if there was any experience of it here? My DS1 didn't go through it, but he is a very deep sleeper and once he learned to sleep well nothing really stopped him.

Is there any advice? I'm concerned that the extra feeds I'm giving in the night (bottle fed by the way except first and last feed of day - breast) might start to rob day time feeds. We are also just at the point where we need to move to longer between feeds so I'm working on 3 hr 15 minutes at the moment, but with this, the NW and possible swaddle issues things really seem like they are going to get confused and our routine will go topsy turvy.

Our routine as I said was a three hour easy / ish. Bedtime is earlier than for most, 6.30-6.45, mainly because he can't cope with any later. This does mean the last nap is usually 45 mins to 3.30 or 4. I've never managed to get this nap to be more than 45 mins.

So really what I'm asking is for your experience of this. I hope it won't last long as things seemed to be going in the right direction (although swaddle needs addressing obviously).

Thanks, and I look forward to your thoughts.

Juliet
Mummy to:

Elliot Ronald - 9th May 2012
Leo Ross - 12th August 2015

Offline trimbler

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 37
  • Posts: 3029
  • Location: London, UK
Re: Is this a sleep regression - do we just ride it out?
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2015, 13:30:28 pm »
Hi there - yes there is a big sleep regression around 4mo, but it sounds like you've already read up on it ;) And a growth spurt - although at 15w I'm not sure whether it's the one which typically happens at 3mo (13w) or 4mo (17w), either way, at this age I wouldn't worry too much about feeding at night, apart from of course it's tiring, but it could very much still be a genuine need for more milk - I guess with bottles you can keep track to some extent of how much he's getting over 24h, although of course it's harder to say with the bfs. On the positive side, it sounds like he's doing amazingly well with self setting :D which may make things much easier as you ride out the 4mo SR, but be aware that 4mo is a tricky time for many, if not most of us, so if you find it so then you're not alone :-*

With the routine issues, it would really help us to help you if you could post a recent day - perhaps the last one which worked well and a recent one which didn't seem to go so well? If he's getting three longish naps and one catnap then that's actually pretty ideal for the 3h easy, don't worry about trying to extend the 4th nap, it will drop off soon enough anyway.

As for the swaddle, the main safety concern is whether he can roll? If so, you will need to wean the swaddle now, but if not, there's no big rush, some LOs keep it until 6mo or beyond, so if you think he didn't respond well to your swaddle weaning attempt then I'd keep it a little longer, until it becomes a problem, either because he's breaking out very often or can roll, as then it becomes a safety issue.

Hope that helps answer some of your questions, I'll try and answer the routine questions once you've posted it :)



Offline Jules77

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 21
  • Location: Wheathampstead, Herts, UK
Re: Is this a sleep regression - do we just ride it out?
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2015, 11:36:37 am »
Hi,

Sorry for not replying sooner, LO got a nasty cold last week and things have been rather crazy.

Strangely the NW sorted themselves after I made this post, but naps went to 45 mins for a couple of days until I worked out I need to extend his awake times. This git us back to proper naps until the cold hit.

If there are still issues once cold gas passed I'll post a good day and a bad day.

Thanks for your help.

Jules
Mummy to:

Elliot Ronald - 9th May 2012
Leo Ross - 12th August 2015

Offline trimbler

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 37
  • Posts: 3029
  • Location: London, UK
Re: Is this a sleep regression - do we just ride it out?
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2015, 20:20:51 pm »
Oh no poor thing, hope he gets better soon and that you manage to get some rest too... :-* Well done for working out the A time stretching, I have to say it took me way too long to believe I needed to do that at this age :P Will look out for your update :)